ID Card

Mina Beker

Born: May 6, 1902, Jonava, Lithuania

Mina, born Mina Friedman, was the youngest of four daughters born to a Jewish family in the Lithuanian town of Jonava. At the age of 18, Mina married Osser Beker, a lumber dealer. The couple settled in Jonava where Mina worked as a seamstress. The Bekers had two sons and two daughters, but their oldest son died in a childhood accident.

1933-39: Mina's son Abe attended a Jewish religious school in Jonava. But since Mina had received an extensive Jewish education, she decided to teach her daughters at home. Mina also taught Jewish studies to local women and children, using a Yiddish translation of the Bible. In 1937 her husband died while away on a business trip. Almost a year later, Mina moved the family to Kovno, where they resided at #20 Luksus Gatve.

1940-44: On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded Lithuania, and reached Kovno two days later. In July the Bekers were confined to the city's ghetto where they remained for two years. In 1943 the family was sent outside Kovno to the Ninth Fort, a Nazi execution site. The Bekers were held for several days and then returned to the ghetto. They were told they had been sent back because there were not enough bullets to kill all the prisoners. A week later, Mina and her daughters were sent to a Nazi camp at Stutthof.

Mina was gassed at Stutthof on the Baltic coast in late 1944 or early 1945.